Developers, project opponents, agencies and courts often lose the forest for the trees when considering CEQA issues.  A prime example is the conflicting appellate authority and public debate on the question whether a city council's adoption of a voter-sponsored initiative measure is subject to CEQA.

Several parties, including the San Francisco Peninsula communities of Atherton, Menlo Park, and Palo Alto, challenged the California High-Speed Rail Authority's decision on where to route trains travelling between the Central Valley and the Bay Area.  The court of appeal recently upheld the Authority's program EIR for the routing, but rejected the Authority's argument that federal law pree

By Stephen Kostka and Barbara Schussman

It is now clear that the present drought requires that there be curtailment of the exercise of some existing water rights due to the lack of sufficient surface water.  On January　17, 2014—the same day as the Governor's Proclamation of a drought state of emergency—the State Water Resources Control Board issued a "Notice of Surface Water Shortage and Potential of Curtailment of Wat

A court of appeal, for the first time, has upheld the  State Water Resources Control Board's authority to restrict valid pre-1914 and riparian water rights on the ground that their exercise has become an unreasonable use of water under current circumstances.

In February 2012, the Westlands Water District and related water distribution districts entered into two-year interim renewal contracts with the U.S.

In a recent case decided by the Third District Court of Appeal the court upheld the use of a CEQA exemption for a proposed rodeo at a county fairground despite claims it would pollute  a nearby creek.   Citizens for Environmental Responsibility v. State of California ex rel. - 14th Dist.

An opponent of a Wal-Mart project was thwarted in his attempts to use an admittedly defective hearing notice as a basis for overturning project approvals.  The court ruled that his claims were defeated by his failure to present evidence of prejudice and by a prior appellate decision.  Roberson v. City of Rialto, No. E058187 (4th Dist.

Santa Cruz County has become the first California county to permanently ban the controversial oil and gas drilling technique known as fracking. By a 5-0 vote, the Board of Supervisors this week amended its General Plan to prohibit all facilities for oil and gas exploration and development within the unincorporated County.

Finally, a CEQA case about rodeos.

A landowner's attack on a condition of approval of a development permit was barred by the landowner's failure to contest the same condition when it was imposed on an earlier permit, according to a recent court of appeal decision.  Bowman v California Coastal Commission, B243015 (2d Dist 2014). 

In Property Reserve, Inc. v. Super. Ct.